Sunday bus experiment said to be success

The East End's experiment with Sunday bus service this summer worked out better than expected, with 5,861 riders using the two lines serving the North and South forks on 11 Sundays, according to Suffolk Legis. Jay Schneiderman (I-Montauk).

He said the service -- paid for by an extra 50-cent fee on each daily bus ride -- generated $56,560 in fares. And, daily ridership actually went up on those two lines, despite the extra fee, while the Sunday service was in operation. It ended Labor Day weekend.

"We assumed raising the fare would lead to a falloff in ridership Monday to Saturday," Schneiderman said recently. "Not only did that not happen, it looked like ridership increased, while across the rest of the county ridership went down. It was extremely encouraging. There was standing room only on many of those Sundays in the late mornings and early afternoons."

Because much of the East End's economy involves summer tourism, many of those without cars rely on bus transportation to get to seasonal jobs in July and August.

The service cost the county $84,810. Schneiderman said one problem with the service appeared to be the expense of providing special disabled transportation service. The county set up three buses to serve those using wheelchairs or with other special transportation needs.

Those buses do not make regular runs, but are scheduled by riders 48 hours in advance. While the county spent $3,000 each Sunday to keep the buses available, they were only in use on three Sundays, and carried a total of 13 people.

The buses had to be set up before the Sunday service began, Schneiderman said. He added that he learned that the heaviest weekday demand for disabled transportation involves visits to the doctor, and that most doctor's offices are closed on Sunday. He said the county would now look into alternatives, such as a car service, to cut costs next year.

And, he added, he wants to look at expanding Sunday bus service across the county, with 10 lines put into service between Memorial Day and Labor Day, rather than just the two lines that serve the East End.

That would be paid for the same way this year's Sunday service was, through a 50-cent fee added to the regular $1.50 bus fare.

Schneiderman said that running 10 Sunday bus routes would put almost everyone in the county no more than a short taxi ride from a bus. And, he added, there would be another benefit. "There would be buses running in every legislative district," he said.